New Delhi, September 14
Light rains hit the Capital this morning making way for an ideal weather as the students of Delhi University stepped out to cast their votes for the union elections. The university finished its polling process today bringing an end to one week of exhaustive campaigning. The results for the student union will be announced tomorrow.

Up to 40 per cent voting was registered for the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) polls this year in which 38 candidates from different political affiliations are contesting for the four main panel posts.

Even as student activists were worried that the rains would affect the number of votes, they kept making rounds of several on and off campus colleges, raising slogans and trying to maintain the tone of the elections. The supporters of the ABVP, NSUI, SFI and AISA even went to different college canteens, hostels and auditoriums, asking the students to vote.

As many as 2,291 students cast their votes today at Ramjas College, 2,171 at KMC, 2,355 at Hansraj, 1,574 at Hindu and 1,696 at ARSD College.

“The turnout was higher than the last year when the university had witnessed only 30 to 34 per cent voting. The counting of votes will start tomorrow at 9 am and the results are likely to be announced by 1 pm,” said C S Dubey, chief elections officer.

“No untoward incident has been reported today. The polling was largely peaceful. Whatever small complaints were registered, no action has been taken yet. They need to be checked thoroughly,” he said.

The chief elections officer added that the figures got better as the office registered a higher percentage of voters in the evening colleges. However, there were many students who couldn’t cast their votes as they turned up without their college IDs.

A total of 984 EVM machines were put up across the university. Apart from polling in colleges, the administration had set up 50 voting centres under 12 clusters for the convenience of over 86,000 voters.

The ABVP had thumped the NSUI in the elections last year as it bagged three of the four posts, while the NSUI managed to win the post of president. This time the post of president is likely to see a direct contest between NSUI’s Arun Hooda, a second year student of Buddhist Studies, and ABVP’s Ankit Dhananjoy Chaudhary, also of Buddhist Studies. 

New Delhi, September 14
Election fever was at its peak at Jawaharlal Nehru University today, with supporters of parties singing and chanting slogans outside the polling booths, campus dhabas and hostels to make sure that the students cast their votes for the posts of the students' union and councillors of all schools.

Gung-ho AISA supporters at JNU urge the students to cast their votes on Friday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui

A total of 57.95 per cent polling was registered at the 12 voting centres set up across four schools today. The voting was conducted in two rounds-- from 9am to 1 pm and from 2.30 till 5.30 pm.

The aspirants are competing for votes of around 5,000 regular students.

"The counting will begin tonight around 9 and the results are likely to be declared by Sunday morning," said Chandan, chairperson of the election committee. Unlike other universities, where the results are declared the same day or the next day of the polling, JNU takes time in declaring the results.

"At times, the counting takes place over up to three days. This is because we don't use electronic voting machines. Also, the votes are cast not just for the students' union panel, but for respective councillors of all schools. This year, 123 candidates are in the fray for over 30 posts-- four office-bearers of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (president, vice-president, general secretary and joint secretary) and councillors of all streams. We count the votes manually. The votes for the councillors' posts are counted first and then for the students’ union. The results are declared together," said an election committee member.

The university, which saw its first election after four years in March this year, went to the polls again as per the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Commission on university elections. The Left-affiliated AISA had bagged all the four posts in the last elections.

New Delhi, September 14
Keeping in view the rush of bus commuters, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today flagged off 16 orange colour cluster buses on Route Number 405.

Eight buses each on Route Number 405 (Badarpur Boarder-Mori Gate) and Route No.405-A (Badarpur Boarder-Old Delhi Railway Station) have already started plying.

The fleet, introduced under Cluster Number 2, had been supplied by Indrapastha Logistics Private Limited.

With the introduction of 16 buses, the number of cluster buses on Delhi roads has gone up to 316.

The concessionaire has decided to roll out another 20 buses on Route Number 460 (Badarpur Boarder-Minto Road Terminal) next month.

The new buses have several features like electronic ticketing, announcements inside the buses and scroll system for information about the stops.

With the start of the new cluster, intra-city commuting would become much comfortable as the buses will connect eight prominent Metro stations at Badarpur, Tughlakabad, Mohan Estate, Sarita Vihar, Jasola-Apollo, Pragati Maidan, Chandni Chowk and Kashmere Gate. Further, the buses under the new cluster would also connect the existing operational cluster routes at eight prominent junctions on Ring Road and Netaji Subash Marg. The Chief Minister said that the transport department and the Delhi Integrated Multi-Model Transit System (DIMTS) had given permission to the new concessionaire to introduce 232 orange buses under Cluster 2 at the earliest.